Strength in Numbers #186
In today’s digital age, video games have become a favorite pastime for athletes, including baseball players who play into the wee hours of the morning, on off days, and in the clubhouse.
Although fun, video games present risks when habitual and excessive.
If you are an athlete who goes to video game play to unwind, excessive screen time and repetitive hand movements can have unintended consequences on vision, stress levels, and motor control and can take a toll on the musculoskeletal system.
Baseball players, who rely heavily on fine motor skills, reaction time, and forearm strength, must be cautious about the potential risks of prolonged video game play.
This week, I met with two athletes who can play for more than three hours at a time and more than two days per week. Both have forearm stress-like symptoms. The season is around the corner, and you need to be more informed.
The Hidden Risks of Extended Video Game Play
1. Vision Strain and Reduced Reaction Time
Extended screen exposure can cause digital eye strain, which can lead to blurred vision, headaches, and difficulty tracking fast-moving objects.
A study on digital eye strain found that prolonged gaming significantly reduces contrast sensitivity and reaction time, both critical for hitting and fielding in baseball.
Think about this: if you are a two-way player, you must turn around a 100 mph fastball, and if you are a pitcher, you may have to field one coming at your face.
When vision is compromised, players may struggle with pitch recognition and depth perception, affecting on-field performance.
2. Increased Stress and Poor Recovery
Competitive gaming can heighten stress and anxiety due to prolonged focus, intense visual stimulation, and the pressure of in-game performance. Studies indicate that high-stress activities before sleep disrupt sleep patterns by increasing cortisol levels, delaying melatonin production, and reducing overall sleep quality. Excessive gaming can impair recovery from baseball training and competition since sleep is essential for muscle recovery and cognitive function.
Now, you may not know this, but the highest autonomic nervous system disruption occurs the day after starts and anxiety-filled appearances.
This is why, in many of our courses, we intensify the training for the throwing arm and upper body after games so that the day after can be recovery-focused.
I call it Megadosing so that you can really underload the body the following day.
The fight-or-flight system (sympathetic nervous system) is elevated in competition the following day, and the rest-and-digest system (parasympathetic nervous system) puts on the brakes.
If you play video games after the game and the following day, adding to interdigit fatigue and elevating your stress hormones, you are perpetuating physiologic stress and will continue to disrupt your natural heart rhythm—something you do not want to do.
3. Motor Control and Coordination Impairment
Baseball requires precise neuromuscular coordination, yet excessive gaming may disrupt motor control. Research by Van Vugt & Patten (2006) on fine motor fatigue shows that prolonged, repetitive hand movements reduce dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
Overusing the same neural pathways for gaming instead of training-specific motor patterns could alter neuromuscular efficiency, making fine motor tasks like throwing and hitting less precise.
Think about the importance of spin. If we trigger finger fatigue to impact the ability to apply friction and stiffness to the baseball, the ball’s flight will be impaired. This will likely lead to fewer missed bats and less movement, both of which increase a pitcher’s damage.
I do very specific finger strengthening with pitchers using tennis balls that increase the force applied to a fixed surface that tries to push back on the finger.
These exercises are performed at slow speeds and at a slow rate of force, while video games produce less muscle activation but much more repetition fatigue and a much higher rate of force development for the flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus—key muscles that protect the inner elbow and apply spin and friction to the baseball.
Video Game-Related Forearm and Hand Injuries in Baseball Players
Baseball players rely heavily on grip strength, forearm endurance, and finger dexterity.
As I previously mentioned, video gaming demands prolonged use of the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) and flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS)—muscles that control finger flexion from the first knuckle to the endpoint of the fingertips.
Overusing these muscles during gaming can lead to injuries that directly impact throwing and batting performance.
1. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common overuse injury caused by compression of the median nerve in the wrist. Research shows that extended gaming, particularly gripping controllers or pressing buttons rapidly, increases the risk of CTS.
Symptoms include numbness, tingling, and weakness in the hand—problems that can severely impact bat grip and throwing accuracy.
2. Trigger Finger (Flexor Tendinitis)
Trigger finger or stenosing tenosynovitis occurs when the flexor tendons in the fingers become inflamed due to excessive gripping and finger flexion.
Studies indicate that prolonged gaming significantly increases the likelihood of tendon irritation, which can lead to pain and stiffness in the fingers (Matzon & Maltenfort, 2015).
This can limit bat control, throwing mechanics, and overall dexterity for baseball players.
3. Forearm Muscle Fatigue and Weakness
Since gaming primarily engages the FDP and FDS muscles, these muscles may become fatigued, tight, or imbalanced. The FDP flexes the fingertips, while the FDS flexes the middle and proximal phalanges.
These muscles apply force when you need it most in layback, where the medial elbow opens and puts stress on the ulnar collateral ligament, which gets repaired with Tommy John Surgery.
Overuse will impact grip recovery scores, which not only present increased TJ risk but can also lead to forearm compartment syndrome. In this condition, excessive pressure builds within the muscles, restricting blood flow and causing pain. This can negatively affect grip strength and throwing velocity.
How Baseball Players Can Prevent Gaming-Related Injuries
While occasional gaming is not harmful, baseball players should take precautions to protect their hands, forearms, and overall health:
1. Limit Gaming Sessions
- To prevent excessive strain on the hands and forearms, gaming should be restricted to no more than 30–45 minutes per session.
2. Incorporate Hand and Forearm Exercises and Test, Test, Test
- Grip Strengthening: Players who game need to really stick to the ArmCare.com platform, test at least two days per week, and incorporate grip training to support interdigit strength and hand endurance.
- Baseball Grip Strength Testing: Players need to utilize our testing on game days, velocity enhancement days, bullpens, or any other time they throw at high intensity. If you see alerts on grip, you have to make an actionable decision to reduce workload or skip the throwing program altogether on the day.
- Wrist Extensions & Flexions: Strengthen opposing muscle groups to prevent imbalances. This is incredibly important, and reverse curl activities are a pretty solid choice to increase the strength of the wrist extensors.
- Finger Extension Bands: Stretch and strengthen extensor muscles to counteract overuse. This type of programming also needs monitoring, as excessive use can lead to tennis elbow symptoms.
- It is important if you throw a split finger, but it needs to be balanced with finger grip training to maintain forearm muscle stiffness and reduce the loading on the UCL.
3. Prioritize Sleep and Recovery
- Avoid gaming after games, and do not game at night if you can avoid it. Gaming at night hammers you with flickering and blue light, increasing the fight-and-flight responses of the sympathetic nervous system and dumping a ton of dopamine into the brain. Altogether, you are asking for major sleep disturbances.
- Use blue light filters to reduce digital eye strain—this is a must to control the amount of cortisol dumped into the brain.
4. Maintain Proper Ergonomics
- Use ergonomic controllers that reduce wrist strain.
- Adjust screen height to avoid excessive neck and shoulder tension.
- Sit on a Bosu ball that forces you to activate your core and keep your shoulders back.
Conclusion
While video games can be enjoyable and even beneficial for cognitive skills, baseball players must be mindful of the physical risks associated with excessive play.
The repetitive stress placed on the flexor digitorum profundus and flexor digitorum superficialis can lead to forearm fatigue, carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, and reduced grip strength, which can negatively impact baseball performance.
By balancing gaming with proper training, recovery, and injury prevention strategies, athletes can ensure their health, coordination, and performance remain at peak levels both on and off the field.
Every player in the world who plays video games needs to test their baseball grip strength with the ArmCare.com platform.
I cannot say this enough – Strength Matters Most.
Ryan
Ryan@armcare.com
